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Sunday, July 13, 2008

New Thing #184--Gimme A Hug

The best Things can't be planned; they just happen.

I was in the checkout line at the grocery store today. The well-dressed older woman in front of me had on a huge button that stated she was an "Official Hug Tester". I asked her what that meant, and she told me that she liked to give and receive hugs at church...and at grocery stores. Before I knew what was happening, she reached over and embraced me! Today I was hugged by a stranger.

There was a time I would have been weirded out by a stranger giving me a hug, but I'm way past those days. I thought the whole experience was pretty awesome. Her effort wasn't half-hearted, either. It was a friendly cheek-to-cheek hug, and would have been even nicer except there was a grocery cart in the way. Afterward, she gave me a small card that said "Free hugs-no expiration date!" The back of the card had her church information.

After I'd paid for my items I walked over to the bagging area. The woman was still there organizing her groceries. I went up to her, thanked her for the hug, and explained how I'd be adding her to my list of activities on my blog. She gave me ANOTHER hug.

4 comments:

  1. Makes me a little uncomfortable thinking about it! I don't know that I could have been as good natured as you seemed to be. Good story though!

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  2. Isn't it funny how we restrict ourselves to close contact only with friends and family... I love this idea just don't know I would feel that comfortable being hugged like that...

    Do you think you could be her, and hug strangers like that? or would you feel more comfortable being hugged?

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  3. I've learned to hug (and receive hugs) from people I don't know well as I've journeyed through life. It's a long story...

    I don't know if I could be on the GIVING end of hugging a stranger-yet. I need to work on that one.

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  4. It's funny what you might encounter at the grocery store. A man came up to me at Schnucks last Sat and said, "Looking for this?" He was holding up a wet wipe towel. I said, "Huh?" and he said he saw me looking for it by the entrance (indeed I was and they didn't have any there). I took the towel and thanked him. My guardian angel was looking out for me I guess. About this hugging thing, I don't mind getting one from a nice stranger lady but I don't think I can give one a stranger.

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